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Details in Terrestrial/Celestial Globes, ca. 1725

JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post

{Please not--although the image is the one offered for sale here it is not framed--this is the suggestion of how the engraving would look in a simple black frame.

Map Terrestre / Map Celestre. This is a dual globe map showing a hemisphere of the Earth in the terrestrial globe and part of the northern sky in the celestial globe. It is a design that I see has been borrowed a number of times in the 18th century--this engraving was printed and hand colored probably around 1725.

Image 20x27 cm on 22x30.5cm sheet.

Central fold. There's a little bit of an inky smudge (as you can see in the image) left there by the colorist some 300 years ago.

Very good condition. $200

The main object in this engraving--the presentation of two globes, one terrestrial and one celestial--is perhaps less interesting than secondary figures accompanying it. The two small insets of solar and lunar eclipses are instructive and pretty, while the compass rose is full and surprisingly stubby, making that example fairly uncommon--and much more attractive when isolated and cleaned up a bit. So too for the rudimentary but elegant comparison of the sizes of the planets compared to the Sun that surrounds the celestial globe--again, isolated and defined, the image is striking.